


Inked You In

by 22ndaisy



Category: BAE173, H&D (Korea Band), Produce 101 (TV), UNIQ (Band), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Best Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Dumb Characters, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, LIKE LOTS AND LOTS OF CUDDLING GODDD, Light Angst, M/M, Morning Cuddles, Mutual Pining, SEUNGYOUN JEALOUS, SEUNGYUL DUMB, Sleepy Cuddles, Slow Build, Slow Burn, like reeeeeally slow, seungyul taking turns wanting to be babied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27538510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/22ndaisy/pseuds/22ndaisy
Summary: Hangyul knew right when Yohan told him that he & Wooseok have broken up that, as much as he wanted nothing to change between him and his best friend Cho Seungyoun, some things just can’t be helped.Not when Seungyoun had always been smitten with Kim Wooseok.
Relationships: Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun & Kim Wooseok | Wooshin, Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Lee Hangyul, Kim Wooseok | Wooshin & Kim Yohan, Kim Yohan & Lee Hangyul
Comments: 20
Kudos: 60





	Inked You In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunshinejade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinejade/gifts).



> ㅡ The title is based on a line from the song "A Face To Call Home" by John Mayer which goes:
> 
> "You know my paper heart  
> The one I filled with pencil marks  
> I think I might have gone  
> And inked you in."
> 
> this fic is actually based on a prompt by my cute lil sis, sunshinejade, which i claimed and was supposed to submit as an entry for Different Pools ff.
> 
> but i withdrew from the ff. but i also fell so deep in love with the prompt's potential, ideas for it wouldn't stop bugging me until i'd finally written them.
> 
> (hi jade babe, i tweaked your prompt a bit since you mentioned you had plans on reclaiming it and writing it for another fandom. i hope that's okay. unnie loves you and misses you.)

That’s unusual.

 _This wasn’t the first time_ , Seungyoun thought, but it was unusual that Hangyul left without peeking through his door to say goodbye nor texting him what his schedule would be like for the day, seeing that it was a Saturday.

It wasn’t that Hangyul was obligated to, of course not, but it’d been this way between him and his best friend for so long during the weekends. 

Hangyul had only broken this unspoken agreement twice before. The first time was when they had their biggest argument ever, and the second was when the younber got really drunk one Friday night that he left his phone back in the bar, and ultimately never found it.

Seungyoun was not the early riser that his best friend, Lee Hangyul, was. Weekends are usually for him to sleep in. So by the time that he’d read all the text messages he’s received overnight, checked Hangyul’s social media for any clue on where he might be, and then finally glanced over the digital clock on his bedside drawer, it was almost noontime already.

It took him about forty minutes to take a shower, brush his teeth, and dress up to head out, but he made sure to swing by the kitchen first to scarf down the brunch that Hangyul made for him on a regular weekend basis.

However, the kitchen was spotless and untouched, no home-cooked food waiting for Seungyoun when he got there.

Seungyoun frowned, then wondered what was so urgent that Hangyul left their shared apartment without so much as a knock on his bedroom door, because he was sure he wasn’t dreaming last night when his best friend announced his arrival with a single knock on Seungyoun’s door.

That thing was sort of one of their many routines, too, and they always observed it even on the weekdays. It was something they made sure to do so that the other was aware of the other’s arrival or otherwise, absence. And usually, too, during the day, they would be diligently updating each other of their whereabouts throughout the day, mostly to make it easy to determine how their set up was going to be, come evening - who was eating dinner at home? Should they cook or order in? Were they out of groceries? Would anyone be home late? Would anyone be bringing friends over?

It was their way of giving each other space, but at the same time, determining if there was any window in each other’s schedules which they could spend with each other. 

Seungyoun checked his phone for any reply from Hangyul to his “ _Hey, you left so early I didn’t even notice,”_ as he closed the door to their apartment behind him. There was none.

He decided against taking his car and hailed a cab instead so that he could continue to sleuth around for a clue on where Hangyul might be. Besides, he’d been so preoccupied over wondering where his best friend could have gone so early on a weekend, that he had forgotten to also check Kim Wooseok’s profile.

Wooseok, as in Seungyoun’s crush since forever. 

But Wooseok had been dating Yohan for a little over a year already, so it wasn’t like Seungyoun was planning to make any move, although Wooseok, him, and Hangyul have been acquaintances since high school - all members of their glee club.

Quite the opposite actually, Seungyoun admitted that he should probably start making a serious effort to get over his crush on Wooseok, especially since his own best friend was pretty close with Yohan; the same-aged friends being in the same dance troupe together in high school, and even until now that they’re all in uni. Besides, Seungyoun and Wooseok were about to finish their degree by the end of the school year, too, anyway.

This was no secret to Hangyul, and he, not just once, had implicitly berated Seungyoun for his indecision to make a move on Wooseok before Yohan snatched the heart of the senior. _“It’s not like you were a total stranger to Wooseok hyung, and you were quite popular even in high school. I don’t know what was holding you back, Seungyoun hyung.”_

So for now, while he waited for his feelings for Wooseok to wane as a consequence of letting his many earlier chances pass him by, Seungyoun will be content just casually checking the other’s SNS profiles every now and then. Yet still maybe allow his heart to flutter sometimes at how dainty Wooseok’s features are - how soft & pretty he was - whenever there was a new selfie.

Seungyoun sighed at the almost sentimental picture of rain droplets trickling down a glass window that was Wooseok's latest Instagram post. It was coupled with an equally sentimental caption about sad farewells. _No selfie today,_ he gathered, as he slipped his phone into his back pocket, then made himself comfortable in the backseat of the cab that was en route to a quick stop he just decided to make last-minute before he headed to Vernon’s studio.

*

Hands carrying plastic bags full of snacks (one of them almost tearing at the seams full of Hangyul’s favorites) awkwardly pushed open the door to the studio which Seungyoun knew Hangyul and Yohan’s dance troupe had reserved every weekend. If he remembered correctly, the troupe needed to squeeze extra hours of practice in because there was an inter-district dance competition coming up.

Upbeat music spilled from where the soundproofing of the room had gaps but he couldn’t hear any loud counting, or the rhythmic and synchronised thud of shoes on the floor so Seungyoun was glad to catch the boys during their break.

“Hi, Seungyoun hyung!” Park Woojin - who he initially knew through his old friend, Jeon Woong, before he knew him as Hangyul’s dance crew mate - acknowledged his presence, navigating through his phone which apparently controlled the music. The younger lowered the sounds to an almost inaudible level before asking the obvious, “You came for Hangyul?”

Seungyoun nodded, standing in the doorway and noting that most of the usual faces were here, acknowledging his presence with either a wave, a smile, or a small bow - Woojin, Jihoon, Dino, Subin, Minwook. Yet Hangyul and Yohan were nowhere to be seen.

“You have snacks!” Minwook hollered, ushering the older in, and promptly taking the bags from Seungyoun’s hands to dig through. “Hangyul’s not here though,” the younger said quietly, verbalizing Seungyoun’s observation; almost like a question, because why else would the older be here if not for his best friend?

“You know where he is?” Seungyoun casually asked Woojin, who was bending down to sit beside Jihoon who was playing a game on his phone.

“Yohan and him were here earlier, actually,” Dino supplied a little unsurely. “I got here first, then Hangyul came in after me. When Yohan arrived though, they excused themselves and talked in hushed tones in that corner.”

“Not gonna lie, it sounded and looked like some serious matter,” Subin offered through his struggle to open a bag of chips which, if the oldest was not mistaken, he’d unceremoniously snatched from Minwook’s hands.

Jihoon, who Seungyoun didn’t even realize was paying attention, piped in, “Yeah. And they left shortly after that, promising to catch up on anything they’ll miss for sitting out today.” He didn’t even look up from his game.

“But it’s not like they would have trouble doing so,” Dino chuckled, “The routine was actually choreographed by Hangyul and me.”

*

By late afternoon, Seungyoun was back in their flat yet still had not heard from Hangyul. 

Needless to say, he was a little more than worried. 

Looking at all the texts he sent his best friend since morning, and seeing how they morphed from playful curiosity to concerned alarm, Seungyoun sighed.

It was already sundown and not a single word. This? Hangyul has never done _this_. Not once. Ever.

He looked at the clock and decided that if it was still radio silence by dinner time - seven o’clock to be exact - then he would message Mrs. Lee, Hangyul’s mother.

With dread filling his gut at his best friend’s strange behavior, deciding whether he should cook or eat out or order in became the least of Seungyoun’s worries. So he laid there in the darkness of his room trying to make up his mind how he should react once Hangyul decided to either show up, or at least, update him through text. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Hangyul of the extent of his concern so it was either nonchalance:

_“Oh, hey! You had a busy day it seems! Where were you the whole day?”_

Or feigned annoyance.

_“It wouldn’t hurt to share your weekend plans with your best friend, you know?”_

The sound of keys jingling, then the doorknob turning got all of Seungyoun’s plans flying out the window as he threw the sheets off of his legs and rushed to the living where he found the younger in the process of toeing his shoes off with a hand braced against the nearest wall.

He was about to scold the younger for making him worried out of his wits for the most part of the day (all of his rehearsed lines completely forgotten) but the younger beat him to saying something.

“Dinner?” was Hangyul’s sheepish offer, holding up a bag from Seungyoun’s favorite chicken restaurant, with an apologetic smile on his charmingly boyish face.

And just like that, at the sight of his best friend’s expectant eyes and cute bunny teeth, Seungyoun’s other previous emotions completely and almost immediately dissipated, leaving the older’s system in a defeated sigh.

“It’s your favorite, hyung.”

Seungyoun rolled his eyes and gave Hangyul a long look, saying nothing. Perhaps it was better not to make a big deal out of it. His best friend was here in one whole piece in front of him now, after all.

Hangyul cranked up the intensity of his puppy eyes and pouted. “Let’s eat, hmmm? Hyung?”

And _fine_. The older folded, almost too easily. As he always did with Hangyul, his idiot of a best friend. So he just childishly stuck out his tongue, then headed towards the dining area, huffing, “Whatever. I’ll go set the table.”

(One day, he will gouge out Hangyul’s eyes in his sleep so that the younger will never have the audacity to pull a classic Puss n Boots manipulation move on him or anyone anymore. That shit worked like a charm.)

“ _I love you, hyung_ ,” Hangyul giggled gaily, trailing behind him.

Seungyoun made gagging noises.

*

Dinner was unnerving.

At least, for Seungyoun, who expected everything to be normal.

Because Hangyul seemed to be excited to talk about anything and everything except how he spent his day. Then when he thought Seungyoun wasn’t looking, a pensive look would replace the sparkle in his eyes and he would seem so deep in thought, the older couldn’t help but think that the younger was hiding something from him.

But if he knew his best friend at all, then Seungyoun should know better than pressure Hangyul into talking about something that the younger wasn’t ready to share.

And it wasn’t like Seungyoun was incapable of wringing the truth of the younger. He knew he could ask Hangyul anything and the younger would let his thoughts & feelings out like a dam broken regardless if he was ready or not. Because it was Seungyoun. And they weren’t best friends for nothing.

It was just that Seungyoun respected Hangyul enough to give him whichever space and time he needed.

Seungyoun flinched back with a start when he felt a gentle pressure at the corner of his lips, realizing that he’d been so deep in his thoughts. So deep that he wasn’t aware how messily he’d been eating; and that the younger had reached over to wipe something off of the corner of his lips.

“You had something there,” Hangyul whispered, carefully wiping with his thumb while the rest of his fingers were gently holding the older’s jaw.

“Thanks,” Seungyoun muttered, flustered. Not that he will admit it. And not that Hangyul seemed to be aware that he’d caught his best friend totally off-guard either, as he pulled away and sat back to continue eating.

Hangyul just beamed at him, cheeks bunching into fluffiness that Seungyoun wanted to just reach out and poke.

And so dinner carried on as uneventfully as it could between the two best friends who seemed to be set on sweeping the matter of Hangyul’s whereabouts earlier that day under the rug.

But it was comfortable. As things always were with Hangyul.

It was late when they’d finished eating and although Saturday nights usually concluded with movie nights, Hangyul wasn’t up for it tonight. 

Seungyoun would admit his heart fell a bit when Hangyul declined, but he still gave his best friend a nonchalant, “Oh you need to rest?”

Hangyul just muttered, “Yeah. Something like that.”

That niggling feeling that Hangyul was hiding something from him was there again.

“I’ll have you wake up to a grand spread of your favorite breakfast food tomorrow though, I promise,” the younger adder a promise.

“You don’t have to, silly!”

And so there Seungyoun was, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep despite having turned in over two hours ago, either because he wasn’t sleepy yet or because the events of today was still bugging him more than he’d care to admit.

And it was when sleep had finally begun to claim him that his door creaked open, and Hangyul’s adorably messy bedhead poked in.

“Can I sleep here with you, hyung?”

_Uh-oh._

Seungyoun could count the number of times Hangyul ever came to him with this request with just one hand: The first time was when Hangyul lost his dog, Hanbyul. The second one was when his sister-in-law lost their first baby.

His best friend only ever needed someone to sleep beside with, when he was in deep grief. Usually over losing someone, if Seungyoun would follow the pattern.

But “Of course,” he whispered like it was a no-brainer, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, and sitting up promptly to scoot back closer to the wall, making space for Hangyul. 

The younger nodded solemnly, “Thank you, Seungyoun hyung.” Then he was stepping inside the older’s room, closing the door behind him quietly.

The younger was wearing jammies and a plain white beater, the older noted, while his eyes adjusted back to the darkness, and Hangyul slinked his shorter yet slightly more muscular frame between Seungyoun’s waiting arms.

The older heard a small whimper as Hangyul practically buried his face in his best friend’s chest, arms coming around Seungyoun. But his ears could just be deceiving him.

“You only ever needed snuggles when you lose someone dear to you,” Seungyoun whispered, playing softly with Hangyul’s hair, and letting his best friend pull him close, tangled legs, pressed chests and all. 

The younger didn’t respond, so the older confessed, “I can’t pretend the curiosity hadn’t been killing me the entire day.”

“It’s-” the younger tried, “It’s nothing.”

Seungyoun just gave an unamused hum, telling the younger that he didn’t believe it one bit.

So Hangyul tried again. “I, uhm, didn’t really lose someone? _Yet_?”

 _Okay._ None of these are making any sense. Who could be Hangyul so afraid of losing that Seungyoun didn’t know? His mind quickly went through a list of names from Hangyul’s family, his friends from school, the dance crew, and their other mutual friends, but Seungyoun couldn’t think of anyone that his best friend held dear enough to be _this_ afraid of losing. Aside from himself, he couldn’t come up with anyone, as conceited as that might sound.

But he was swift to remember that Yohan seemed to know something. So the older made a quick mental note of trying to squeeze some info out of his best friend’s other friend. But for now, Seungyoun offered his best friend his patience. Or whatever was left of it, as he tried once more to reel his curiosity back in, and let the younger tell him only as much as he wanted to - was ready to.

“I just-” Hangyul began again, only to change gears in the middle of his sentence. At least, that was how it sounded like to the older. “I just know I’m about to lose someone. And it’s not something I could stop or could do something about. And I’m just…”

Seungyoun hummed, if only to tell the younger that he didn’t understand fully, but that he was listening anyway.

“A lot of things are about to change. And I guess I don’t want them to. _I’m scared_.”

Seungyoun pondered on his best friend's words for a minute and it broke his heart to witness his ever-optimistic best friend this way. But still, he smiled. Because although the younger made his situation sound so helpless, there was something Seungyoun knew he could assure Hangyul he’ll never lose. “Hey.”

“Hmmm?” 

“You know one thing that’s never going to change?” he couldn’t help one corner of his lips from pulling up smugly.

“What?”

“You & me.” And Seungyoun could only hope his best friend believed his words. Because he meant them and believed them.

Yet Hangyul tensed within his arms, for a long moment, not saying or doing anything until he squeaked a soft “Thank you,” that sounded so unsure and small, Seungyoun could almost think Hangyul didn’t believe him. “I can’t imagine losing you, hyung.”

“As if I will allow that to happen, Hangyulie,” Seungyoun said, pulling Hangyul’s body closer to him, “Now go to sleep.”

Hangyul couldn’t.

*

Morning was as interesting as morning between two best friends who spooned the entire night could be.

The older woke up with his face buried in the crook of Hangyul’s neck and damn, Hangyul smelled glorious.

Seungyoun inhaled a lungful.

“Good,” Hangyul said in amusement, “You’re finally awake.” It sounded like the younger had been awake for a while. 

The older faintly recognized the sensation of a hand carding tenderly and patiently through his hair, and he only groaned in response. (No, it wasn’t a purr.)

“Now, lemme up.”

Seungyoun whined long and deep in his throat, burrowing closer for a moment and earning a throaty chuckle from his best friend, before he pushed himself off of the younger with a grumpy huff. “What time is it, Gyul?” he asked, blindly patting the bed for a pillow which he quickly cuddled to his chest when he found.

“It’s… time for me to get up and cook you breakfast,” Hangyul answered, pushing himself up to sit on the bed where he was fondly looking down at Seungyoun whose cheeks were squished so cutely against the pillow, lips relaxed in an unconscious pout. “I’ll wake you up when it’s ready.”

“Hmmm,” Seungyoun just hummed, preening when he felt Hangyul pet his head lovingly one last time.

*

Seungyoun was woken up by a weird-sounding notification from his phone.

He could faintly hear Hangyul moving around in the kitchen before the smell of pancakes wafted through his nose and suddenly, he was very awake. And very hungry.

He inched closer to his bedside drawer for his phone, pretending he wasn’t burying his face in his pillow because Hangyul’s scent was still there, and swiped his phone open.

He then found that the mysterious notification was from Facebook: _“Kim Wooseok changed his relationship status to Single.”_

That woke him up.

Seungyoun’s eyes widened as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, reading and rereading the notification thrice before he actually clicked on it.

“Wow,” he breathed, not expecting this just when he thought he could start getting rid of his crush on Wooseok. “Wow,” Seungyoun repeated, running a bewildered hand through his hair.

“Hangyulieeeeeeee,” he began screaming his best friend’s name in glee, as he made his way to the kitchen not bothering to brush his teeth anymore. “Gyullieeeeeee!”

He entered the kitchen to Hangyul hunched over the stove, wide shoulders stretching his shirt almost in a way that male models’ shoulders would. But that wasn’t the point.

“Lee Hangyuuuuuul!”

“What,” the younger chuckled, turning around to place the plate onto the table that Seungyoun only noticed to be full of, as Hangyul promised, his favorite breakfast food: pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs; there were mugs empty, but a carton of his favorite brand of almond milk was standing off-center.

“Wow,” Seungyoun gaped.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Hangyul smirked, gesturing for his best friend to be seated across him, as he himself lowered himself to sit as well. “Sit! I’m starving!” He then raised his eyes to see his best friend looking at him with what he knew was Seungyoun’s deeply-touched look. He chose to ignore that. The older knew he was averse to compliments and cheesy words on a normal day anyway. “And why are you screaming for my name loud enough for the whole floor to hear so early in the morning? What’s so urgent that you had to tell me, hyung; you didn’t even bother washing your face and brushing your teeth?”

The older immediately reached up to the corner of his lips and wiped any dried up drool as Hangyul just guffawed.

“Really cute, hyung…”

Seungyoun playfully glared at the younger before sitting across Hangyul, waving his cellphone screen right in front of the younger’s face. “Anyway, look at this!”

“I can’t if you won’t stop shaking it,” the younger deadpanned around his first bite.

Seungyoun handed his phone over to Hangyul and dug in. “Wooseok and Yohan broke up!” he whisper-shouted as if there were other people within earshot.

But the younger only stiffened for a moment after hearing this; not surprised at all, yet frowning all the same.

When Seungyoun got his phone back, he asked incredulously, “You already knew?” 

“Yohan told me yesterday,” the younger said matter-of-factly with a curt nod. There was an undertone of something in his voice but Seungyoun couldn’t quite identify what it exctly was.

Hangyul added, “I was actually about to tell you also but wow, hyung, excited much?”

The teasing tone wasn’t lost to the older and although he knew what Hangyul was referring to, he still feigned innocence. “What do you mean?”

“You tell me,” Hangyul asked him with a quirked eyebrow, pausing mid-chew to give Seungyoun an unamused look.

 _Oh_. Seungyoun thought.

He realized that Hangyul didn’t know that he was actually about to try to get over his years-long crush on Wooseok. _But!!!_ But the news of the breakup changed things. A lot of things. Perhaps this was his chance, but still-

“Wooseok must need some time to recover and get over Yohan properly,” Seungyoun pointed out.

“Exactly,” Hangyul agreed, “So hold your horses, Cho.”

“ _Cho?_ ”

“Isn’t that your surname?”

“You brat!”

Seungyoun knew his best friend was making only perfect sense. But he wasn’t sure he could do what he should.

He’d always been smitten by Kim Wooseok. 

*

Cho Seungyoun could not consider it as just a mere coincidence when he bumped into the crush in question come Monday, in the school hallways, on his way to his next class.

“Yah, Cho Seungyoun,” Wooseok greeted him first, which was not out of the usual, and Seungyoun offered the most dazzling smile he could. “Weird seeing you without Hangyul.”

“Well, yeah, that little shit is almost always around,” the taller joked.

“Careful,” Wooseok warned playfully, “Everyone in this school loves that little shit of a best friend you have.”

Seungyoun had to agree. Hangyul might look intimidating at first but he was the sweetest, most innocent, child-like, and playful being on the planet and he effortlessly turned each hyung, noona, and sunbae from the upper class a #HangyulProtectionSquad member. Not that he needed more than Seungyoun who was more than ready to throw - and even receive - a punch for Hangyul’s honor.

“ _I_ love that kid,” Wooseok added fondly, just to make a point.

“Me, too.”

“Anyway, you headed to your next class?”

Seungyoun gave the shorter male a cute nod, hoping his eyes didn’t have literal hearts on them. “Last class, actually.”

“Lucky you,” Wooseok chuckled to his fist and Seungyoun melted at the sight.

“I guess,” Seungyoun awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“Anyway, I’ll see you around, Seungyoun-ah!” the shorter male began to walk off; long, pretty fingers clutching his books against his chest, and Seungyoun panicked momentarily.

Should he ask Wooseok about- “Wooseok-ah!” he blurted out before he could stop himself, instead of returning the farewell remark.

“Hmmm?” the younger turned on his feel to face Seungyoun with a small, shy smile that encouraged the other to continue.

“Uhm,” Seungyoun began, scrambling for the right words. “I saw on Facebook…”

“Ah.” It was easy to catch that Seungyoun was referring to Wooseok’s breakup with Yohan.

“I hope you’re okay.”

“I will be, in no time,” the other replied with a wink that replaced the glazed over look in his eyes that Seungyoun thought he caught.

And as the older watched Wooseok’s retreating figure, he sighed, wondering how dumb Yohan was to flush a relationship down the drain with Wooseok, of all people, and for what? Seungyoun wanted to know.

Two hours later found him fishing his phone out of his pockets to check the message from Hangyul which he received in the middle of the lecture.

 _“What do you want for dinner?”_ read his best friend’s message.

He was sending his reply of, “ _Default. Be home in half an hour,”_ which he knew his best friend understood to be practically the equivalent of “BHC Fried Chicken, please and thanks,” when his eyes caught the unmistakably narrow shoulders of Wooseok, headed outside the campus as he was.

He picked up his pace to catch up to Wooseok. “Kim Wooseok!”

The other whipped around curiously as his name was called, and stepped aside to avoid the traffic of people wanting to exit through the school gates just as he was, before Seungyoun called his name.

He waited for the taller male to catch up to him.

“Playing hooky?” Seungyoun teased, not missing the chance to run a hand through his hair to make sure he was presentable.

Wooseok slapped his forearm playfully and shook his head. “So easy for you to assume the worst of me!”

And they laughed together, Seungyoun feeling elated. “Then where are you going?”

“My next class is in,” Wooseok checked his wristwatch, “Two and a half hours. And the library’s full so I’ll just burn time in the nearest and least crowded café.” 

“Oh, I know a place!” Seungyoun offered before he realized that he could be misinterpreted to be inviting himself.

Wooseok just smiled at the other’s enthusiasm though, and just said, “Your coffee’s on me if you will show me where that café is.”

Seungyoun couldn’t believe his luck. He could not pass up on that offer.

(It was only when Wooseok was waving him bye with a small wave and a, “Thanks for spending my breaktime with me and walking me to my next class, Seungyoun-ah,” did he have half the mind to realize that he’d completely forgotten to update Hangyul.)

Shit. He made Hangyul wait over two hours.

He sent a quick text to his best friend - _“Forgive me ㅠㅠ”_ \- and hurried home.

He came home to his now cold chicken sitting on the table and his best friend nowhere to be found. He felt really bad making Hangyul wait. Perhaps he should explain before he ate.

Peeking through the crack in Hangyul’s bedroom door, Seungyoun watched the younger massage his temples with a thumb and a forefinger as he read over what looked like a paper due really soon.

He softly knocked twice to make his presence known as Hangyul picked up his glasses, wore them back on, and poised his fingers over the keyboard of his laptop.

“Lee Hangyulie,” Seungyoun dragged that last syllable cutely, ready to ask penance for making Hangyul wait.

“Oh, hyung,” the younger turned around in his seat to face Seungyoun. “Your chicken’s on the table.”

And Seungyoun totally forgot what he came here for, stunned at how good his best friend looked bespectacled. “You’re wearing your glasses,” he observed quite dazedly.

“Uhm. Yes I am,” Hangyul confirmed dumbly, giving his best friend a weird look. “Ran out of solution for my contacts. I know I look weird in them,” then he removed them and Seungyoun wanted to protest. But he caught himself. That wasn’t what he came here for.

“No, you don’t look weird in them,” Seungyoun said, “I just haven’t seen you wearing your glasses for a while now.”

Hangyul just huffed, never one to easily accept compliments, even very implicit ones like this one. Thankfully for him, Seungyoun remembered, “But anyway, I’m so _so_ sorry for making you wait up for me.”

For a second, a certain sadness in Hangyul’s eyes cast his face into a look that could really break Seungyoun’s heart, but it was gone behind a sweet, toothy smile before the older could process that.

“It’s okay, hyung. I understand that Wooseok hyung is more important than dinner,” Hangyul teased, his joke falling flat and not at all funny to neither his ears nor the older’s.

“Wait. How did you know I was with him?”

“Oh, was it supposed to be a secret?” Seungyoun hadn’t even figured out how to answer that when Hangyul launched into his explanation, “Sorry, uhm, Jihoon actually was in the same café as you two and he told Yohan & me in our GC.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah,” Hangyul gave him a thoughtful stare. “Good luck, hyung. You know my stand on this already but I hope it works.”

“Hope _what_ works?”

“Whatever you’re trying to pursue with Wooseok hyung - friendship, best friendship, something more than friendship.”

Seungyoun frowned. Something about Hangyul’s words, tone, and countenance were off but he didn’t want to overanalyse that.

“Uhm. Thanks,” he said slowly. “Well,” he straightened up from where he was leaning slightly against the door, “I’ll go eat my dinner now.”

Hangyul clicked his tongue. “ _Late_ dinner,” he corrected.

“I’m assuming a movie later is impossible?”

“Yeah,” the younger sighed, “This is due tomorrow and the required word count is brutal.”

“Nothing I could help with?” Seungyoun knew he was just basically looking for an excuse to spend time with Hangyul now, so he perked up when his best friend seemed to consider it. And then was ultimately deflated when the younger shook his head and offered him an apologetic smile.

“Nope, but thanks, hyung.”

“No, studies first. Of course, I understand!” Seungyoun waved it off, hiding his disappointment behind a smile. “I should probably go eat now.”

“Good night, Seungyoun hyung.”

“Good night, Hangyul. Good luck on that paper!”

Needless to say, Seungyoun didn’t enjoy his dinner; didn’t even have the appetite for it, if he was honest with himself.

And he didn’t know why.

*

When the same scenario presented itself to Seungyoun the following Monday, he made sure to send his best friend a text message saying that he will miss dinner for the same reason and, of course, Hangyul was supportive.

The younger graciously stayed out of his best friend’s way when it came to Wooseok, knowing full well that Seungyoun had been crushing on the other for years, even before Yohan came in the picture.

So when Wooseok and Seungyoun built some kind of a habit of meeting up during their longer break times, Hangyul thought he’d better start finding other things to burn his time over doing. (He will soon find out that it was easier to find _someone_ else - rather than _something_ else - for that matter.)

But he tried his best to keep all of their other routines intact - their movie nights, their late dinners, breakfasts together - whenever their schedules allowed. ‘Tried’ being the key term there because as two weeks became three, and kept increasing from there, it seemed like Seungyoun was investing more and more of his free time into hanging out with Wooseok or talking to him on the phone.

Not that Hangyul didn’t see this coming. He knew right when Yohan told him that he and Wooseok have broken up, that, as much as he wanted nothing to change between him and his best friend, some things just can’t be helped.

He was just thankful that Yohan - the same one that was Wooseok’s ex, and the same one who knows that Hangyul was in love with Seungyoun - needed as much time away from too many people asking him about the breakup as Hangyul needed time to adjust to the changes between him and Seungyoun now.

“Earth to Hangyul?” Yohan waved his hand in front of the other’s face. “You’re spacing out.”

He really was.

“An idea just hit me,” Hangyul lied smoothly, avoiding the other’s eyes and looking around at the buzzing café that they were in, “It’s, uhm, possible replacement for the hook that we have to scrap for Woojin’s injury.”

“And yours.”

“Yes, and my recurring ankle injury, too. Yes. I don’t think we should put in too much floor work.”

“Tell that to Dino,” Yohan chuckled, shaking his head at Hangyul. “You two were the ones who put the floorwork there in the same place.”

Hangyul faked a chuckle. He couldn’t believe how easily he lied his way out of this one. (He wouldn’t have pulled that off with his best friend.) But Hangyul didn’t really want to be all mopey over Seungyoun again. On Yohan. Again.

It was awkward; the first time he opened up to Yohan about his feelings for his best friend that he had been suppressing for so long. Feelings that perhaps, he should start getting rid of the soonest he can, now that everything seems to be going pretty fast and well between him and Wooseok.

A couple more days passed and Hangyul had taken the hint. He had resolved to not wait up for Seungyoun to eat supper with anymore, unless the older specifically asked him to. He would still get the one single knock on his door every night from the older, but even that was not enough to appease his sadness over their drifting apart.

Hangyul still cooked in the morning when he could, but breakfast times had become hurried; Seungyoun going on about what Wooseok and him talked about the previous night; how excited he was to walk Wooseok to his first class that morning - rhe same thing he did the day before that. And the day before that.

But Hangyul would always feign interest and hide his jealousy behind faked enthusiasm. A _“Wow, hyung, that’s some progress!”_ here, or a _“Wooseok hyung seems to be moving on quickly. Good for you, Seungyoun hyung.”_ there.

But as much as events of recent saddened him, the younger just didn’t have it in him to confess and burden Seungyoun with his feelings.

Seungyoun practically vibrated in excitement whenever he talked about how beautiful Wooseok was, how demure was the other’s laughter, and how delicate the other male seemed. (And wasn’t that just unfortunate? That all the things about Wooseok that Seungyoun liked, Hangyul didn’t have - Hangyul was rugged & playful, as opposed to Wooseok.)

Eventually, Hangyul has had to resort to packing his best friend’s breakfast to-go when Seungyoun had begun picking up Wooseok from his house off-campus, so that he could give him a lift to the campus, too, before they walk to the lecture hall of whoever had an earlier class between them two.

But it wasn’t as if Hangyul could do anything about it.

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in the middle of the semester and while Yohan’s ex and Hangyul’s best friend grew closer, so did Yohan’s fondness of Hangyul - whilst all of the younger’s former routines with his best friend, were slowly being replaced with _their_ routines - Yohan and Hangyul’s.

Over the months, Yohan also learned to recognize that far away look that took over the younger’s face whenever he missed his best friend, Seungyoun. And perhaps, Yohan found that he would love to see that on Hangyul’s less often. So he actively and proactively looked for ways to build his own little routines with Hangyul, too, adjusting his schedule around the younger, so that Hangyul didn’t have the chance to be reminded that his best friend things with Cho Seungyoun were no more.

And it was only a matter of time before Seungyoun caught awareness of this.

It came one morning when he saw Hangyul preparing two sandwiches to-go, instead of one.

_Something has changed._

“You headed somewhere early, too?”

“Hmmm?” Hangyul absent-mindedly hummed in response, not even looking up at Seungyoun who was leaning on his elbows against the counter, watching the younger’s deft fingers carefully laying the tomato on top of the lettuce.

“You’re making two sandwiches,” Seungyoun pointed out, “Are both of those for me? Or do you have somewhere early to go to also?”

“Oh,” Hangyul finally understood what his best friend was inquiring about. “I’ve been making one for Yohan, too, for almost two weeks now. You didn’t notice?”

Seungyoun’s heart did a tiny unpleasant jolt at Hangyul’s nonchalant answer.

But the feeling didn’t make sense anyway, so as his eyebrows met and he straightened up, he forced an “I didn’t,” past his lips as he watched Hangyul finish his (or was that one Yohan’s?) sandwich.

His chest tightened with something unfamiliar which he was unable to give a name to yet, he just knows it was something akin to maybe confusion, alarm, and offense all at once. 

“This one’s yours, hyung,” Hangyul lifted a neatly packed sandwich in his hand and laid it down on the counter, then grabbed the other one and carefully placed it inside his backpack.

And Seungyoun just stood there stunned, as he watched his best friend stop to check himself out in the mirror for a moment, before he slung one strap of the bag onto his shoulder and bid Seungyoun goodbye with nothing more than a, “Say _Hi_ to Wooseok hyung for me! I’ll see you, hyung! Bye!”

The door had slammed behind Hangyul already, but Seungyoun was still glued to his spot, eyeing the sandwich that Hangyul prepared for him with distaste. Suddenly, he thinks he could go without breakfast today.

Since that morning, the older paid more attention to how their (best) friendship had changed over the months. He went through their text messages and realized that, true to his earlier words, Hangyul supported him with his newfound closeness with Wooseok; but also that Hangyul’s messages had littered his inbox less.

The younger’s messages were now limited to need-to-knows; no more random selfies, random updates, random memes and the older couldn’t believe he only realized it now. And now that he did, he realized he minded that. Boy, he did.

He wondered if these changes warranted an apology to Hangyul for how he’d been a sucky best friend lately. But did Hangyul even notice the changes? How should Seungyoun feel if it turned out that Hangyul didn’t even realize it, much less mind it?

Hangyul seemed to be taking these in stride and Seungyoun wasn’t sure that growing apart should be this easy for either of them. They were best friends, and Seungyoun hated to admit it that now he’s had the time to take a step back and examine the amount of time they’ve had to themselves in the past couple of weeks, they might as well be just roommates.

It was Monday, and usually, he would forgo dinner with Hangyul to hang with Wooseok but one day wouldn’t hurt, right?

So he went about his day as normally as his thoughts allowed him and when the time came for him to meet up with Wooseok just right by the campus gates, Seungyoun had already prepared his apologies.

“Of course,” the shorter male graciously smiled, displaying perfect understanding. “Please don’t think you’re required to join me every Monday, please. I mean, time goes by faster when I have someone to chat with, but I don’t mind my own company, too.”

Seungyoun sighed in relief, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, antsy to go home. To Hangyul.

He assumed that the younger would get home before he did. But he assumed wrong and was surprised to come home to an eerily silent & empty apartment.

So he showered and changed into more comfortable clothes, switching between game and social media apps as he waited for Hangyul to arrive.

He contemplated texting Hangyul but he thought he’d rather see his best friend’s pleased smile when he realized that Seungyoun was home for dinner on a Monday night. For the first time in a long time.

He jumped out of bed the second he heard keys jingling, dashed out of his room, and into the living to make his presence known to Hangyul the soonest.

But Hangyul wasn’t alone.

Yohan was with him.

And Seungyoun had to watch in bated breath, in the dark, as Yohan comfortably kicked off his shoes and poked Hangyul on the ribs with a finger, from which his best friend flinched away with howling laughter.

“I swear to god, Kim,” Hangyul threatened the other playfully, switching on the lights, “Do that one more time and I will give you hell.”

“You can’t and you won’t.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because you love me,” the other chuckled playfully, annoying Seungyoun’s best friend even further by ruffling up his hair.

Seungyoun waited for Hangyul to refute Kim Yohan’s remark before he realized it was supposed to be a joke. But there was nothing funny at all about how his best friend was acting like Yohan’s best friend, how Yohan looked so at home, and how the two younger males haven’t even noticed his presence.

So he cleared his throat and the two’s heads whipped towards his direction, their faces displaying a look of surprise.

“Oh, Seungyoun hyung!” Hangyul acknowledged while Yohan gave the other a polite bow. “You’re here.”

“I’m here.”

“Today is Monday,” Hangyul observed, eyes knitted together in confusion.

 _What’s that supposed to mean?_ Seungyoun frowned, his annoyance growing in an exponential rate. “And? This is my apartment?”

The sarcasm dripped off of his words before he even realized that he’d actually said that out loud. To his best friend. In front of Yohan. 

“Uhm,” the guest awkwardly muttered. “We could just do this again next Monday, Hangyul. Skipping one week wouldn’t hurt. I could leave.”

 _Hold up._ Seungyoun’s eyes narrowed. So Hangyul and Yohan had this Monday thing on a weekly basis? And Seungyoun didn’t even know?

He wanted to search Hangyul’s eyes for explanation but when he directed his stare towards his best friend, it was an offended look that Hangyul was wearing. And it registered to Seungyoun what he’d just done. What he was doing.

When Hangyul just stared at him in disbelief, the oldest between the three had the decency and common sense to feel ashamed. However, he was still so surprised at his accidental discovery. Not that they were ground-breaking or anything, he just didn’t expect that Hangyul had a regular thing with someone that wasn’t him.

So he saved himself further embarrassment by turning on his heel to head to his room where he paced back and forth because one, he didn’t mean to be so rude; and two, he didn’t know what to do with himself and the urge to punch the nearest wall or something like that. He didn’t understand himself. Or anything, for that matter.

And the younger wouldn’t even give him the time to.

“Hyung,” Hangyul let himself in his bedroom without a word or a knock, poised for a confrontation.

Seungyoun avoided his best friend’s eyes and thoughtfully glanced over the younger's shoulder to the door. “Yohan-”

“I sent him home.”

“You didn’t have to, I’m sorry.”

“That’s not mine to accept,” Hangyul shook his head. “I wasn’t the one given a less than polite welcome to somebody’s home.”

Seungyoun took a long look at his friend, knowing that as while his eyes wouldn't detect any visible change, things have definitely shifted between him and Hangyul. Irreversibly so, Seungyoum feared.

“I just didn’t expect you to come home with someone else in tow,” the older admitted in a small voice.

And that was Hangyul’s turn to give his best friend a firm look. “And I didn’t expect you to be home on a Monday night.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“It means I can’t understand why you can have a weekly thing with Wooseok hyung while I can’t have a weekly thing with Yohan.”

The older whipped his head back in total shock at his best friend’s words. _Because it’s not the same thing?! Because I’m your best friend and Yohan is not?! Hello?!_ Seungyoun wanted to protest, even if the only sound he made was a gasp at the younger’s bluntness.

He knew Hangyul was aware that he’d liked Wooseok for years so it was bewildering to Seungyoun that his best friend would liken Yohan & himself to Seungyoun & Wooseok. Unless of course-

Seungyoun didn’t want to go there. He couldn’t; his gut was already twisting painfully at just the possibility that… Hangyul… liked… Yohan…? 

So he stood there speechless in front of Hangyul whose shoulders sagged, unwilling to challenge Seungyoun’s non-response anymore.

Smiling bitterly to himself, the younger sighed loudly; a conclusion to their sudden confrontation. Resignation.

“I’ll set the table for dinner,” Hangyul monotonously announced. Like a period, a conclusion to this stupidity. “There’s enough food for three,” he said simply.

And the older didn’t stop him as he turned to leave.

He also couldn’t join Hangyul for dinner, mostly due to his pride standing in the way.

He knew that his behavior in front of Yohan, a guest, was less than courteous and was uncalled for. Even if Yohan’s arrival caught him off-guard and dampened his plan to catch up with his best friend; even if he sacrificed his usual Monday night habit with Wooseok for nothing, Seungyoun still knew he was wrong.

But the night wasn’t over yet. And damn if he would let this day conclude, and the week to begin with him & Hangyul not in the best of terms.

So he showered, hoping the time alone and the water washed away both his ego and the still-lingering hurt feelings he got from discovering that his place as Hangyul’s best friend had become nothing but just a title; Kim Yohan, the potential replacement for him in Hangyul’s life.

He lied on his bed, waiting for Hangyul’s bedroom door to click close before he mentally prepared himself to seek Hangyul’s forgiveness, padding barefooted towards his best friend’s room.

“Hyung?” he heard the younger’s confused voice before Seungyoun could even call out his name.

“Hi,” Seungyoun whispered, toes wiggling in slight awkwardness as he felt the heat of Hangyul’s gaze on him. He waited a few moments for his eyes to begin adjusting to the darkness now that the bedroom door was closed, before he shakily announced, “I’m sleeping here.”

What he wanted and planned to say was actually _I’m sorry_ but he couldn’t spit out the words because he was imperfect like that. So he just hoped that his best friend knew him enough to understand that this was his way of reiterating his apology.

A long moment of silence enveloped the darkness and Seungyoun didn’t think he could take it if Hangyul sent him away.

Thankfully, when the younger finally broke the silence, it was with a playful, “What? Like here on the floor or like on my bed?”

Relief flooded Seungyoun’s whole system. His best friend was the absolute best human being the world. So, knowing that Hangyul wouldn’t see it, he beamed. “Hangyuuuul,” he whined in response to the younger’s teasing.

“I’m kidding,” the younger chuckled, “C’mere, Seungyoun hyung.”

And the older wasted no time inserting his taller lithe frame between Hangyul’s open arms, letting himself be pulled to the younger’s chest.

He wanted to cry. He didn’t even realize he’d missed Hangyul so much until now, that they were acting like they used to. “You still mad at me?”

Hangyul sighed, “I never was.” _I could never be,_ he wanted to add, but he stopped himself. So he just resorted to pulling his best friend closer until Seungyoun’s face was effectively buried in his chest.

“I’ll talk to Yohan,” the older promised. 

“Hmmm.”

But the demons of curiosity worked hard. So while he listened to their even breathing, the many questions that Seungyoun had tried to ignore, resurfaced.

_How long has it been since you liked Yohan? Do you really like Yohan? How long has it been since you formed a Monday habit with him? How long has it been since we spent time together like this, just you and me?_

But he swallowed them down, afraid that verbalizing them would just take them down a slippery slope where they might end up fighting again. So he just sank deeper in the embrace, slinging an arm over Hangyul’s waist as the younger’s body wash filled his senses.

“Good night, Lee Hangyulie.”

“Good night, Cho Seungyoun-ssi.”

*

Seungyoun was a man of his word.

So when he swore to his best friend that he would talk to Yohan, he was fully planning on following through with it.

So one could imagine his surprise when he woke up the next day and the other had him beat; Yohan’s message reading, _“Hi, Seungyoun hyung. I was hoping we could talk.”_

As far as the older knew, he was the one who owed Yohan anything, so he replied in the affirmative despite the confusion.

And that was how he found himself in a bustling café seated across Kim Yohan on a Friday night, their drinks & food untouched, and the tension palpable.

The older assumed Yohan was going to give him the ‘Take care of my ex. We may have broken up but I still care for him fiercely’ kind of talk, seeing as it was no secret that Wooseok & him have been hanging out pretty frequently, and had significantly grown closer over the past couple of weeks.

“Uhm,” it was the younger who spoke first. “You may eat, hyung.” He gestured politely with an upturned palm. 

Seungyoun looked at the pasta dish he ordered and realized he wasn’t hungry enough to dig in. “Thanks,” he said, gesturing for the younger to do the same as the queasiness in his stomach steadily grew. “I was also actually planning on talking to you, too,” he confessed as Yohan began to eat.

“Oh about Monday?”

“Yeah, about that.”

Yohan didn’t respond for a brief moment, choosing to start eating, chewing thoroughly while he gathered his thoughts, it seemed to Seungyoun.

“I didn’t call you out to demand an apology out of you, Seungyoun hyung.”

“Perhaps,” Seungyoun said, fiddling with the fork beside his plate. “But I’m still saying sorry anyway.”

The other simply nodded. “I understand you must have been surprised. Hangyul told me that you haven’t had the time to even ask him what he’d been up to since you started hanging out with Wooseok hyung. So he didn't - we didn’t - expect you as much as you didn’t expect us.”

Seungyoun’s other hand that was under the table started to curl into a fist. He knew Yohan was just stating facts but said facts weren’t the nicest to hear.

Yohan continued, looking at the window with a far away look on his face. “Hangyul thinks himself to be the least of your concerns recently.”

“He is wrong.”

“Perhaps,” Yohan shrugged, using the same word Seungyoun just did, “But Hangyul has no reason to believe otherwise. He just knows you’ve been out of touch with each other recently.” He paused for a brief moment, allowing the older to say something. When he didn’t, Yohan continued. “I’m at your dorm almost every night, Seungyoun hyung; keeping Hangyul company for dinner. Did you know he hates eating alone?”

“Of course, he’s my best friend.” That came out with more venom than Seungyoun intended.

“Yet when was the last time you ate together?” the younger fired back. “Or even ask who Hangyul had to eat with?” he challenged, quite gently for words that cut deeper than he must know.

Seungyoun just reared his head back in surprise. He could feel the tension that was just beneath Yohan’s otherwise calm facade, too. He was appalled at the way that Yohan got so riled up so quickly but more than anything, the he wasn’t too fond of the idea that someone other than himself was being this protective of Hangyul.

(Shouldn’t he be glad though?)

Seungyoun just gave the younger a pointed look, saying nothing more, and daring the other to continue. But Yohan, as Seungyoun knew even before then, was a man of upright character. And the older confirmed it when the younger seemed to get a grip of his temper, came to his senses, then gulped. 

He must not have meant to let his temper fly, Seungyoun gathered. But the younger’s fiists were still shaking where they were in the table and Seungyoun had to raise an eyebrow at them, long enough for Yohan to realize that this conversation could not go anywhere further if he failed to keep his emotions at bay. Seungyoun was older, after all, and Yohan had been less than polite.

“Look,” Seungyoun began, carefully still, “I’m not sure where you’re going with this. Is this what you called me out for, to remind me how sucky I have been as a best friend to Hangyul? Just get to the point already, Yohan. If you’re going to make me promise that I wouldn’t be as neglectful a boyfriend to Wooseok as I am a best friend to Hangyul, then I would have you know that I am not rushing into anything with your ex anytime soon-”

“Wait,” Yohan cut him off mid-sentence. “I’m not here to talk to you about my ex-boyfriend, Seungyoun hyung.”

“You’re not?”

Yohan laughed mirthlessly, “Don’t get me wrong, we ended on good terms but, really, it’s none of my business who he’s seeing.”

Seungyoun let out a nervous, confused chuckle.

Technically, Wooseok & him weren’t seeing each other yet. They were just getting to know each other better, and perhaps he should make that clear to Yohan also. But that wasn’t the most pressing concern in his mind now either.

If Yohan had already assured him earlier that the Monday incident was all good, and that Wooseok wasn’t what they were here to talk about then it really was Hangyul.

Did Yohan also suspect that Hangyul was pining for him, just as Seungyoun suspected?

The older’s tummy sank. His annoyance dissipated, and he felt a little lightheaded; his previous irritation replaced by an unsettling feeling that got him tongue-tied.

Could Yohan be here because he’d suspected the same and would like Seungyoun’s, as Hangyul’s best friend, help confirming his suspicions? If he told Yohan that he actually _did_ suspect the same, what would Yohan’s response be-

“I like Hangyul. I like your best friend, Seungyoun hyung,” Yohan declared with his whole chest as Seungyoun’s own chest imprisoned the last breath he took and for longer than just a moment, he said nothing. Felt nothing. Heard nothing else after the younger’s confession, the words reverberating inside his head.

When he found his breath, he realized it’s a whole other ordeal to find his wits, and his voice.

So Seungyoun just breathed in then breathed out, knowing that he was staring dumbfounded at Yohan, blinking every few seconds.

 _Wow_.

Of course, Seungyoun, of all people, should know how easy it could be for anyone - literally anyone at all! - to fall for Hangyul if they were only close enough to know the sacrificial, hardworking, and selfless soul behind the bubbly & playful personality wrapped in insanely attractive looks and impossibly fit body. But that didn’t make any of this easier to process & digest. That didn’t explain why he was both so scared & so upset at the mere mental image of his best friend dating Yohan - of his best friend dating at all.

On the other hand, while it was true that Yohan liked Hangyul and had clear, good intentions to show for it, he wasn’t blind.

Yohan did want to make his feelings known for Hangyul to Seungyoun in person, because he’d sensed that there was something deeper and fonder than friendship that bound the best friends together.

It was in the way that Hangyul practically glowed at Seungyoun’s presence. And it was in the implicit show of jealousy and possessiveness that Seungyoun displayed last Monday.

Not that the two best friends in question seemed to be aware. Neither was he keen on clueing them in on what’s really happening.

Yohan, much like the person seated across him, just didn’t know whether he should scream or frustration or sigh in relief.

“I like your best friend, Seungyoun hyung,” Yohan repeated more firmly, trying for a reaction from the older again.

To the other, it felt like twisting a dagger that was already digging deep enough to hurt like hell.

“I like Hangyul just as you like my ex-boyfriend.”

Seungyoun swallowed a ball of saliva and found his voice, scratchy and tight his throat may be. “Ah,” was all he could say, unaware that his eyes had become glassy at realizing that his best friend could be leaving him in his singlehood-

 _Wait._ It wasn’t going to be like that if, eventually, he could progress further with Wooseok.

An ugly strand of guilt pulled slowly yet painfully within him. Would he have considered how he could be (or was it how he’d been) leaving his best friend behind, in favor of pursuing Yohan’s ex-boyfriend?

He knew the answer. He knew the truth. And he felt like a tool. 

“Do you have nothing to say to me, Seungyoun hyung?” Yohan probed carefully, which prompted the older to be torn between being defensive and being confused. “Even after knowing that this was why I was a little upset that you have basically left Hangyul high & dry these past few weeks?”

Seungyoun sighed. “What do you expect me to say? You aren’t wrong. Both with your observations. And in your choice to set your eyes on my best friend.” He faked a casual chuckle. “Our Hangyulie is very lovable - if not the most lovable creature on the face of this planet. You made a smart choice, Kim. Continue to make smart choices and treat my best friend right; never make him cry, or I will personally ensure you die a very slow & painful death.” He was telling it in a joking manner, but Seungyoun knew in his heart of hearts that it will be impossible for him to not want to destroy any low-life who dares hurt his Hangyulie.

Yohan took the joke in stride, but the older noticed that his eyebrows were set in a very odd way, as if there was something else he was concealing. A question he was reining.

“Seungyoun hyung. I’m sorry.”

“No. I understand. Treat him like a prince.”

“I would,” the younger vowed, “If he’ll take me.”

(Seungyoun was just terrified Hangyul would.)

The following day, Seungyoun was served something that he couldn’t have been mentally & emotionally prepared enough for - Hangyul standing in front of the same cinema indicated in the movie tickets inside his pocket, looking soft as hell with his plain beige sweater swallowing his body.

From the older’s view, Hangyul’s fingertips were barely visible, peeking only slightly from under his sleeves from where he was holding a cup of soda - a cup of soda _in each hand_?

“Hangyulie,” he croaked; his throat dry for some reason.

They saw each other this morning before the older left their dorm first, not having the time for breakfast; his Saturday schedule for the day full from morning until evening.

But it seemed like it wasn’t only him.

“Oh, Seungyoun hyung!” Hangyul practically leapt in delight at seeing his best friend, face split in the widest, most charming smile that the older has seen on the younger’s face in a while. Not that he’d seen much of the younger recently.

“You with anyone?” the older asked, gesturing to the two cups of soda in his hands.

“Oh, yeah. Yohan and I have been wanting to see this movie! Although he’s still in line getting- Oh wait- You here to see this one, too, hyung? Join us!”

Hangyul was speaking a mile per minute. _Excited like a kid. Endearing as fuck_ ; so Seungyoun let his best friend finish before he admitted, “I came with someone actually-”

“Lee Hangyul?” a soft, melodic voice sounded from over Seungyoun’s shoulder, his companion for the evening appearing just as the oldest was about to tell his best friend.

“Oh, Wooseok hyung…” Hangyul acknowledged a teensie bit less ecstatically, yet still politely and friendly. “I guess you two are watching this movie, too, huh?”

The half step backwards that Hangyul must have taken unconsciously was not lost to Seungyoun. So were the lights that left Hangyul’s eyes when Wooseok came in sight. But instead of overthinking it, Seungyoun just chose to assume that it was Hangyul’s trepidation at being seen with Wooseok’s ex-boyfriend by Wooseok himself. 

Wooseok, friendly as ever, stepped forward to give Hangyul a friendly hug, even hooking his chin over the younger’s shoulder while Seungyoun got a first row seat to his ever sociable best friend displaying an odd awkwardness towards Wooseok.

“You came here with someone? Yohanie?” Wooseok casually asked, looking over Hangyul’s shoulder, causing the youngest to visibly gulp.

Seungyoun knew that it wasn’t really intended to be a backhanded comment that would ruffle up Hangyul’s feathers but his best friend fidgeting and looking cornered drove Seungyoun into protective mode.

But before he could do or say anything in Hangyul’s defense - not that there was really a need for any - Yohan’s arms came swiftly around the youngest’s shoulders from behind.

“I can’t believe we bumped into you two here,” Yohan offered lightheartedly, oblivious to the unsettled state the two best friends were in. He must have seen the three from afar already.

“Me neither,” Wooseok giggled while handing Seungyoun his popcorn and drink from inside the bag of snacks dangling around his dainty wrist.

From his periphery, Seungyoun saw Yohan sneak in a whisper into Hangyul’s ear to which his best friend just shook his head, and really, that arm should really fall off from Hangyul’s shoulder right about now.

“You sure?” Seungyoun vaguely caught Yohan asking Hangyul softly, earning the latter a playful slap in the chest with the back of Hangyul’s hand. 

He could also vaguely recognize Wooseok talking about the movie’s reviews so far, as their pair naturally began to drift apart from the other two, both minding their own business and companion.

But Yohan was cooing and fixing Hangyul’s fringe with his fingertips and Seungyoun just couldn’t ignore the blush dusting his best friend’s cheeks at that. 

So before he could think it more thoroughly-

“You guys wanna join us? We can have dinner after?” he blurted out. 

Three heads whipped towards Seungyoun’s direction at his inquiry.

He pleaded Hangyul with his eyes to accept his invitation while Wooseok gave him a long, steady stare that was so devoid of any emotion, Seungyoun still wouldn’t know what it meant even if he tried to decipher it.

So Wooseok turned to the other two in resignation, as if he had no choice but to second Seungyoun’s invitation. “I wouldn’t have a problem with that, actually,” he offered genuinely.

Besides, Yohan would know if he was lying anyway.

Meanwhile, Hangyul’s hands tightened around their drinks, and he stood there apart from Yohan, staring back at his best friend; puppy eyes, sweater paws and all because this was just not fair. Not to him. Not to Wooseok. 

He would decline the invitation if he could. If he knew what was good for his heart and self-esteem, he would put down his feet and decline. But his best friend was practically begging him with his eyes to join them. For reasons he couldn’t quite comprehend.

“Hangyul?” Seungyoun dialed up his request with his soft pleading voice, “Join us?”

Hangyul realized that this must be how it felt to drown. You’re surrounded yet you’re alone. The odds are against you and you’re helpless. Hopeless.

But Yohan was there, pulling him to the surface, back to reality; grounding him with a hand at the small of his back. “We’ll go only if you want to,” Yohan whispered as the other two waited for them to either decline or accept - Wooseok in amusement, and Seungyoun in confusion. Mostly at how he felt watching Yohan bring his lips so near Hangyul’s ear whispering something.

*

Regret at extending the invitation came way too quickly for Seungyoun inside the cinema where Wooseok was seated between Hangyul and Seungyoun, while Yohan was on the other side of the youngest in the bunch.

On screen, there were half-dressed gorgeous women, cars flying, heroes in an open combat on rooftops, but Seungyoun’s attention was divided between Wooseok’s head on his shoulder and Hangyul’s head on Yohan’s.

Seungyoun knew Hangyul would rather watch dubbed cartoons on local channels than a subtitled American action movie; so he wasn’t at all surprised that despite his best friend’s earlier claim that he’d wanted to see the movie, Hangyul had actually ended up dozing off. On Yohan’s shoulder.

Wooseok was still watching the movie - the only one who still was - as Seungyoun caught Yohan lowering himself a bit so that Hangyul’s neck was not bended too far in an awkward angle.

He rolled his eyes in the dark, knowing that no one would actually see him do it. He knew without a doubt that Yohan’s intentions towards his best friend were pure. But were they clear to Hangyul? He mentally shrugged, denying that the whole scene, which probably looked romantic to any other person’s eyes, just had him fuming.

He didn’t know what it was about the gentle way Yohan laid a hand on his best friend’s cheeks to wake him up when the movie ended and the lights went back on, that just rubbed him the wrong way. 

Dinner together was no better and no kinder to Seungyoun than the movie was.

Wooseok was seated across Seungyoun and Yohan was beside the oldest, with Hangyul seated across him.

Doubt started to creep in regarding the other two’s compatibility when it turned out that, surprisingly, Yohan apparently had yet to discover that Hangyul could not eat spicy food. 

However, in peak Hangyul fashion, the youngest didn’t even have the heart to inform Yohan of that fact, after their group decided to let Yohan order for them, since they chose the restaurant at his recommendation.

Seungyoun was annoyed at how Hangyul just nervously chuckled when he realized that the main course was spicy. So he gave his best friend a long look in which he waited a few moments for Hangyul to speak up, but the younger didn’t, probably not wanting to seem like he expected everyone to adjust to his taste.

“Hangyul?” Seungyoun prompted the youngest to speak up, after the waitress had repeated their order and asked if it was final.

Hangyul knew what his best friend was trying to do and he only shook his head vehemently, widening his eyes at Seungyoun.

“Seriously?” Seungyoun deadpanned.

“What is it?” Yohan asked, detecting the secret signals the two best friends were exchanging with their eyes.

“Is there something you want or do not want, Hangyul-ah?” Wooseok asked kindly and Yohan just tilted his head at Hangyul in confusion.

Flustered, Hangyul just felt his cheeks redden at the heat of everyone’s attention on him, and Seungyoun could only sigh.

“Hangyulie can’t eat spicy food,” Seungyoun decided to just tell Yohan upfront, making the latter look at Hangyul first with curiosity, giving him a chance to deny, before it softened to a tender smile that Hangyul shied away from.

When the waitress had left after Yohan has tweaked their order, Yohan was just rewarded with a toothy smile that showcased Hangyul’s bunny teeth.

“Thanks.”

Seungyoun fought the urge to frown.

Once food was served, Wooseok took it upon himself to neatly fill Seungyoun’s plate with a portion of each dish that they ordered while the two younger males scarfed down their food in silence.

“So,” Wooseok began, making polite conversation, “When’s the inter-district competition?”

“Next week, actually,” Hangyul clued in, cheeks full and lips forming the biggest of pouts as he swallowed down his food. “You hyungs should come watch!”

“Hangyul choreographed our routine,” Yohan proudly said, eyes shining as he looked over at Hangyul who bristled in awkwardness at once again being put in the spotlight.

“No,” he waved it off as if his ears were not visibly burning, “Dino and Minwook helped here and there.”

“You’re probably just being modest,” Seungyoun said, priding himself at knowing his best friend the best among everyone seated in the table.

“Yeah, actually,” Yohan seconded.

Wooseok, who was more aware of what was happening than Yohan and Seungyoun were letting on, chose to ignore the other two’s silent competition on who knew Hangyul better and chose to just naturally proceed.

“We’d love to,” he said with genuine enthusiasm. “As long as you could get me and Seungyoun free tickets,” he added with a laugh as a different waitress served them their desserts - a slice of cake for each one - and taking the dirtied plates with her also.

Conversation lulled to asking how each other’s studies were going and as Hangyul talked about his, Seungyoun realized how long it’s been since he actually had any idea what his best friend had been up to. Just like what Yohan implied the previous night.

But sooner than anyone expected, it was nearly time to go.

“Well,” Yohan began as he put his napkin down on the table and pushed away from the table to stand, “Hangyul and I will be going ahead. We also wouldn't want to interrupt any further plans for the night you may have.”

“We don’t have any further plans,” Wooseok laughed, the sound tinkling, light, and airy. “It’s late.”

Yohan just nodded. “I see,” he muttered, “Well, I’ll be bringing Hangyul home.”

Hangyul had gotten up on his feet also and was about to bid goodbye also but Seungyoun suddenly offered, “I’ll bring us all home.”

“No, Seungyoun hyung,” Yohan declined politely, casting an indecipherable glance at Hangyul’s way, “I’m the opposite way of your & Hangyul’s dorm.”

“Yeah, it’s okay, hyung,” the youngest easily waved the offer off absentmindedly as he shrugged on his coat.

“So is Wooseok,” Seungyoun clued in, rising from his seat as well, refusing to take no for an answer. “Come on, before it gets too late.” (He didn't miss the appalled look on his best friend’s face when he insisted.)

Needless to say, he was not surprised that Hangyul gave him the silent treatment on the way home and even when they got home.

He wasn’t quite sure what exactly his best friend was mad about but Hangyul was not petty.

Seungyoun knew he must have pushed the younger to his limits for his best friend to not talk to him, not make him breakfast, not even text him or give him the one single knock for days since the spontaneous double date with the other two.

It broke his heart. 

And Wooseok caught on it quickly.

“Are you even listening?” was the only thing that Seungyoun caught from what Wooseok was talking about.

He shook his head and laughed self-deprecatingly, but also in apology for spacing out.

“So you’re not,” Wooseok observed with a sigh. “You can talk to me about it if you want, you know?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Must be Hangyul then,” the shorter male quipped, effectively making Seungyoun’s eyes shoot to meet his in alarm. “I’m not stupid, Seungyoun. I know you like Hangyul.”

The older’s eyebrows met. He _was_ thinking about Hangyul, but not because he _liked_ him. His best friend was the kindest, funniest, most attractive person in the world but “I don’t _like Hangyul_.”

“Sure you don’t,” Wooseok snorted, eyes dancing in amusement as if he didn’t believe the older one bit, and as if he knew something that Seungyoun didn’t. He sighed and gave the other a long hard look.

Wooseok knew what he had to do. It may be long overdue but there was no sense dragging it out.

“Who _do_ you like, Seungyoun?” he asked softly, playing with the straw in his drink. He knew the true answer. And he knew how to wring it out of Seungyoun. But he also knew it wouldn’t be easy. He knew Seungyoun would deny.

The guy in question looked at Wooseok in front of him both with curiosity & alarm. He sat up straight. He didn’t plan on confessing to Wooseok so soon but he guessed it was imperative given the situation. He didn’t want the younger to misunderstand his sentiments.

“If it wasn’t obvious,” Seungyoun mumbled, “I like you.”

“I figured as much.”

“You _knew_?”

“I knew that you were not going to answer me truthfully.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this is me letting you down gently,” Wooseok sighed. “Because you are confessing to the wrong person. Because you are not being honest to yourself.”

Seungyoun slowly gathered all the little clues that Wooseok had been dropping since he pulled him out of his trance, and realized he’d been clearly misunderstood.

“I _don’t_ like my best friend,” Seungyoun denied firmly.

“And if I told you that I knew someone other than Yohan that liked him?”

“Who the hell?!”

Wooseok just laughed, shaking his head, entertained despite the other’s emotional turmoil. “You say you like me yet you just but sighed at my rejection. But when I make up stuff about someone else liking Hangyul, you look like you’re ready to fight.”

Well, that wasn’t untrue but “It’s not the same thing.”

“You’re right. It’s not. Because you’re in love with your best friend, not me.”

*

It was the day of the competition and Seungyoun wondered if the invitation still stood. 

It had been almost a week of his cold, silent spell of some sort with Hangyul.

The younger had been busy with rehearsals and the older had been busy coming to terms with the realization that he was, in fact, in love with his best friend.

He was in love with Lee Hangyul.

And it could have been hilarious had the realization not come from the person he thought he liked - Kim Wooseok. And if the younger would just talk to him and give him the opening to confess.

If he wasn’t aware of his feelings, Seungyoun was sure he would have already whined, acted cute, apologized, cuddled up his way to reconciling with Hangyul - like the usual.

But things were _not_ the same.

He was in love with Hangyul.

But so was Kim Yohan, it seemed.

And Hangyul wasn’t talking to him.

He did try to initiate a conversation earlier though, when the younger was getting ready to leave.

“Are you not grabbing breakfast, at least?” Seungyoun asked as he hovered around the kitchen. “You have a full day ahead. You can’t start on an empty stomach. I can cook for you,” he offered, wringing his hands together and hoping Hangyul would, at least,look at him.

“The crew will grab breakfast together before heading to the venue,” was Hangyul’s clipped answer as he straightened up from tying his shoes, grabbing his duffel and heading out the door.

Seungyoun damn nearly cried.

How was he supposed to fix it?

He thought about the way Hangyul would not even look at his direction, and he felt discouraged. Perhaps he should just bury his feelings until they no longer existed.

But could he do it?

Because he also thought about the way Hangyul takes care of him - takes care of everyone around him and puts them first before himself. He thought about the way they could understand each other without words. (Until now, that was.) He thought about Hangyul and his toothy, cheeky smile - different when he’s genuinely happy from when he was intentionally trying to be cute; usually when he wants to get his way. He thought about Hangyul’s love for his family, his hyungs, and his nephew and nieces; how beautiful & graceful Hangyul was when he danced, how insecure he was of his singing voice which, by the way, Seungyoun loved; how cute he looked when he’d just woken up.

Shit. How did he miss a huge, glaring neon sign that’d been right in front of him all along. With how many hours it would take for Seungyoun to wax lyrical on all the things he found endearing & attractive in his best friend, it should have been obvious. It should have been obvious by how affronted he was just by the mere thought that someone could matter more to Hangyul than him, the best friend.

Seungyoun should have known by how much he loved the feeling of being in Hangyul’s embrace, and how, if it were up to him, he would have the younger in his embrace every night if he had the excuse to, that he was head over heels in love with Lee Hangyul.

Lee Hangyul had been making him feel _so much_ for so long, he’d really gotten used to it so much so that he’d never considered it to be anything more than fondness towards a best friend.

Even being with Wooseok didn’t make him feel as fluttery and dizzy with attraction as just thinking about Hangyul walking around their flat with just a plain white beater on. Or looking so flawless after he’d just showered.

Seungyoun blushed by himself, bursting at the seams with this newfound discovery of feelings for Hangyul, now recognizing that he, in fact, was jealous of Yohan.

He wasn’t threatened of Yohan stealing his best friend - he was terrified of Yohan calling Hangyul’s his.

Seungyoun wanted Hangyul to be his. And in the same way, he needed to be Hangyul’s.

He looked at the time. If he was not mistaken, Hangyul and their crew should have arrived at the venue by now. Perhaps he should get ready to leave also. After all, despite their current situation & his own current predicament, he still wanted to support his best friend.

He was on his way to the shower when he noticed that Wooseok left him a few messages. Curious, since Wooseok never double-texted, Seungyoun chose to open the messages first, surprised that they were links, actually. Links to articles to be exact, posted some minutes ago, all of which had headlines about a dance crew that was on their way to the same exact competition Hangyul’s crew was joining. The dance crew apparently encountered a traffic accident resulting in two casualties - both members of the crew. The bodies were still being identified, and other wounded survivors were being transported to the hospital.

For a minute, Seungyoun couldn’t believe his eyes as fear, like vines, started crawling up from his tummy to his chest until it was hard to breathe.

_God, no. Please._

Seungyoun opened his mouth but no sound came out as the worst possible case scenario played in his head like a horror film so terrifying, it could make you cry. Perhaps he felt a lone tear escape his eye but that didn’t stop him from galloping to his room to grab a jacket. And in less than a minute, he had his car keys in his hands and was out the door, finally having half the mind to try and call Hangyul himself as he pressed the back of his free hand to his mouth, muffling his silent sobs.

His eyes switched to tunnel vision as his legs ate up distance, rushing down the hallway to head to his car as Hangyul’s phone rang and rang andㅡ

_“Seungyoun hyung?”_

Seugyoun gasped as he pressed the Down button in the elevator about ten times, then pressed his phone closer to his ear. He restlessly turned this way and that waiting for the telltale ding sound of the elevator.

“Lee Hangyul?! Where are you?!” he almost shouted, his free hand shaking where he was running it through his hair. Relief whooshed out of him in a loud sigh, thankful that his friend was, at least, well enough to answer his phone.

“Uhm-”

“Where are you, dammit! Are you okay?! It’s not your crew, right?! Yohan is safe, too? Are you hurt?!”

The elevator finally dinged open and the younger’s answer of _“Calm down, hyung, I’m right here,”_ didn’t sound through the receiver.

The older whipped around and true enough, his best friend was there, fine, stepping out of the elevator with a solemn look on his face. His knees almost gave out under him but Hangyul was here. In front of him. Alive and well.

Seungyoun wasted no time wrapping his arms around the younger, if only to prove to himself that his best friend was really okay. And it was when Hangyul’s arms came tentatively around only him did Seungyoun finally break down crying - onto the younger’s neck nonetheless.

“I seriously thought something happened to you…”

“Sssshh,” the younger cooed, calming him down with a hand running comfortingly up and down the older’s back. “I’m here, am I not?”

The other just wailed louder, burying his face deeper onto the younger’s neck and tightening his arms. “I was so scared.”

“I’m sure you must be,” Hangyul chuckled softly, “You’re gonna be so sad without me, I bet.”

For a moment, the both of them forgot about the cold war of some sort that they had going on until this morning. Seungyoun was just relieved. And Hangyul was just delighted to have his best friend hugging him so tightly.

“It’s not funny,” Seungyoun whined, uncaring that they were in the hallway and that he was getting his tears and snot on Hangyul.

“I know. The competition was postponed. We’ve competed against them before. Who knows if those who made it will even be able to still dance after this…”

The older nodded, unrelenting in his embrace, although his sobs were quieting down.

Hangyul was patient with Seungyoun. As always. Shaken as he, too, might be, and indifferent as they might have been towards each other recently, he’d always been weak for the older, too. It came along with the feelings, he was sure.

“You okay now?” Hangyul asked, nudging with his shoulder so that the older lifted his head and disentangled his arms from around him.

Seungyoun complied and muttered, “No.”

The younger just snorted.

“I thought I’ve lost my best friend forever and you’re laughing at me,” Seungyoun sniffed, wondering if he should be annoyed that Hangyul was taking his misery very lightheartedly or thankful that the younger seemed to have forgotten the silent treatment he was giving him until now.

“Aigooya,” Hangyul singsonged, pinching Seungyoun’s nose, and looking at the other with a fondness so obvious, the older wanted to squirm. Or just straight out blurt out that he liked - no, loved him. 

“Hangyul.”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m about to tell you something _really_ crazy,” Seungyoun confessed, fisting at the remnants of his tears and then fiddling with the hem of his shirt, effectively avoiding the younger’s eyes also. “But it’s _totally_ crazy and it might weird you out. But I don’t know. Maybe it won’t. I hope it doesn’t-”

“Let’s talk inside, hyung?” the younger cut off his ramble with the invitation, seizing his hand.

“O-okay,” Seungyoun nodded, letting Hangyul lead him back to their place by the hand.

Once inside, Hangyul refused to let go of his best friend’s hand, pulling him to sit down on the couch with him. “What is it, hyung?” he asked with a frown.

The older looked at his best friend through tear-stained eyes. Closely and intently; committing to memory Hangyul’s kind eyes, sharp nose, and perfect lips. He might not ever have the chance to gaze upon them again should this not go well.

He wrung his hands together on his lap, then averted Hangyul’s gaze. “Are you still mad?”

“I was never mad. I could never get mad at you, hyung.”

“But you’ve been avoiding me.”

“That, I have,” Hangyul chuckled bitterly, unable to deny. “I just have some things to sort out with myself after _that_ night.”

Seungyoun knew exactly which night he was talking about. “You were disappointed in me. Something I did. How I acted. Don’t lie to me, Hangyulie.”

“Perhaps,” Hangyul assented. “But it was disappointment born out of confusion, really. You were trying to prove something. And I still don’t know why you feel like you had to.”

Lifting his head, to watch confusion crumple Hangyul’s face, Seungyoun wanted to back out. But after the minutes of hell he’d experienced earlier today thinking he’d lost his chance with - no, thinking he’d lost Hangyul forever, he knew better than to keep on denying himself and his best friend of the truth of his feelings.

“I’m sorry.” It was the first reasonable thing Seungyoun knew he had to get out of the way.

“For what?”

“For how shitty of a best friend I’d been since Wooseok and I had started getting close.”

Hangyul met his eyes and just nodded.

“And I’m sorry for being jealous of Yohan.”

The younger blinked, lips half-parted in surprise and Seungyoun feared that Hangyul would reject him any second now. But a moment passed and the younger seemed to make sense of Seungyoun’s declaration and he replied with the ghost of a sad smile. “If you’re afraid of being dethroned from being my best friend, you don’t-”

Ah, he misunderstood. “No, Hangyulie,” Seungyoun interrupted to talk more slowly, carefully, and meaningfully in hopes that his best friend would finally get it. “You don’t understand.”

“What do I not understand?”

“Yohan likes you.”

“I know.”

“And I am jealous of Yohan. Even if I wasn’t your best friend, I would still be jealous of Yohan.”

This time, Hangyul gasped. But his cheeks also darkened and the tips of his ears turned red.

Seungyoun took these as a sign that he’d finally gotten his message across. And it made him hella nervous and scared.

Hangyul floundered. “B-But you like Wooseok hyung…”

Seungyoun shook his head and licked his lips, watching emotions play in Hangyul’s eyes in succession.

“No,” he denied softly. “I’m pretty sure I like you. Lee Hangyul.”

“Seungyoun hyung…” Realization came to Hangyul almost with the subtlety of the transition between two seasons, except Seungyoun watched it happen before his very eyes. In the very face of the very man he loved very much. “I-”

“No, I need to get this off my chest before I chicken out,” Seungyoun chuckled nervously. But it was now or never. “I like you. And as much as I don’t want this to change anything between us, it inevitably will. Because best friends don’t just fall in love with - _oof_.”

He didn’t even see Hangyul surge forward, practically throwing himself onto the older’s chest and throwing his arms around his neck. “I like you, too, Seungyoun hyung,” the younger whispered.

Seungyoun blinked once. Twice. He wasn’t sure if what he thought was happening, was really happening. It was all too good to be true.

“No,” the other corrected himself before Seungyoun could even process his feelings & attraction towards his best friend being reciprocated. Before he could even get a word out. “No, I actually think I love you, hyung.”

Seungyoun let his body sag in relief inside Hangyul’s embrace and he felt like wanting to cry again. If Hangyul was just messing with him, he swears to God he will-

“I have loved you so much and for so long, you have no idea how devastated I was when we started drifting apart.”

Seungyoun might be mistaken but it sounded like Hangyul, too, was on the verge of crying. He wanted to look at Hangyul’s eyes when he made his feelings clear but when he tried to make the younger let go, Hangyul was adamant to, only tightening his arms around him. So the older gave up trying, and let his own arms come around Hangyul, too; even tugging gently to signal him to climb onto his lap. “Hangyulie…”

The younger complied with no hesitation, straddling Seungyoun in the couch, unashamed of how tightly & closely they were pressed together. He buried his face onto the older’s neck and continued, “I only avoided you these days because you and Wooseok hyung were practically dating yet you were making it seem like you do not approve of my friendship with Yohan. I was missing you while at the same time trying to get over you but you were being so confusing and I just - I never ever thought you would see me that way. Never.”

“Ssssh,” Seungyoun shushed the younger’s worries softly. “Hyung is sorry. I was being an idiot. Hyung didn’t know how to deal with his jealousy.” He felt the younger nod while a small and an almost petulant whine escaped him as Seungyoun smoothed a hand up and down his back soothingly. 

They remained in the embrace a minute longer until Hangyul sat back and looked at his best friend. With so much awe & wonder swimming in his eyes, one would think he was looking at something so precious or magnificent. But it was just Cho Seungyouno.

“What about Wooseok hyung?”

Seungyoun just beamed at Hangyul and shook his head.

Hangyul nodded thoughtfully, self-consciously biting down on his bottom lip as he pondered on something. Then he admitted, “Yohan actually confessed to me the night before we went to the movies. And I turned him down.”

“Yeah?” Seungyoun asked barely containing the giddiness that had gradually replaced the nerves, holding Hangyul by the waist. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Then that means I was jealous that entire night for nothing?”

“Kind of,” Hangyul nodded, covering up his giggles with a fist, the picture of pure, youthful bliss despite the shimmer in his eyes that were from brimming tears.

“I’m so stupid.” This time it was Seungyoun who whined, resting his forehead against Hangyul’s chest in embarrassment, prompting the younger to pet his head playfully while cooing.

“Mm-hmm. That, you are…”

“Wait. Don’t say _it_.”

Hangyul laughed and said _it_ anyway. “But, Seungyoun hyung, you are _my_ stupid.” Then he made gagging noises at the cheesiness of his own cliche statement, making laughter bubble up from Seungyoun’s chest as well.

“Nooooooooo. Ewwwwww.”

*

“You know,” Seungyoun began, turning in the younger’s embrace to face him.

Now that they were face to face, he couldn't have prevented his heart from doing a one-two-skip at Hangyul’s devastatingly handsome face being so near his own. “I always loved falling asleep with you.”

Hangyul smiled sleepily at him, perhaps already half-asleep. Yet he raised his free hand to the older’s cheek and rubbed his thumb tenderly over his cheekbones while his other arm was being pillowed by Seungyoun’s head.

“And I don’t even care if I was little spoon or big spoon,” Seungyoun continued, inching closer and closing his eyes contentedly at the warmth from his best friend’s palm. “You’re just so warm and snuggly. I just get the best sleep when I’m beside you.”

“I guess there will be more of these from now on then,” Hangyul murmured, letting his hand fall from Seungyoun’s cheek in favor of pulling his frame closer against his chest, their legs tangled.

“ _More of these_ ? No, there will _only_ be these from now on!”

A deep chuckle rumbled in Hangyul’s chest and the nonverbal response made the other pout. So Seungyoun drew back a little to look up at Hangyul who still had his eyes closed, to wring words out of his best friend, “Right? We will be sleeping beside each other _every night_ from now on?”

Cracking open an eye, the younger peered down at him playfully and teased, “And if I said ‘No’?”

Seungyoun’s pout intensified.

Hangyul laughed now - the sound rich and deep, making Seungyoun feel all possible kinds of tingly & fluttery from head to toe, combined with the striking features in the other’s face that were softened by his charming smile. “Every night,” the younger relented as if it was a chore, but he secured Seungyoun’s head back under his chin with a hand. “Whatever you want.”

Like magic, a small smile began to pull up the corners of Seungyoun’s lips from the pout. So he indulged himself to a lungful of Hangyul’s body wash scent that seeped through his clothes before he pulled away for a second and pressed his lips onto Hangyul’s in a stolen kiss. “I love you. Good night.”

And because that was their first kiss, Hangyul’s eyes flew open at the sensation and he found himself staring at Seungyoun’s innocent, yet expectant face. 

After a moment passed and Hangyul had yet to say something, the older began to think that perhaps he may have overdone it with both the kiss and the L-bomb. But then again, Hangyul wasn’t pushing him away, was he?

“Did you just kiss me?” the younger asked incredulously, eyes now wide open while his brain tried to make sense of the previous sensation of someone else’s lips on his.

“Maybe?” Seungyoun squeaked sheepishly, avoiding the rejection or disgust that he feared hr might see in his best friend’s eyes by turning onto his other side. Not without pulling Hangyul’s arm so that it was slung around his waist though.

And for a moment, Hangyul did and said nothing. But before Seungyoun’s worries could deepen, the younger was pulling him back around by the shoulder and kissing him.

Yes. Lee Hangyul - in his thinly dressed, mint-breathed, freshly-showered glory - was hovering over him with elbows bracketing his head and kissing him senseless. 

And Cho Seungyoun could only smile against the other’s mouth, keeping up with the pushing & gliding of their lips together with his hands intertwined behind the other’s neck, pulling him closer and closer until they were breathless.

Seungyoun had half the mind to think that he may be coming across as eager and needy with the way he was chasing Hangyul’s lips with his own everytime they so much as part for a blinking second. But Hangyul was kissing him so tenderly yet so thoroughly, his whole system was short circuiting. And it was _so_ addictive - the way the younger’s lips were so plump and soft and skilled and just perfect. He simply couldn’t get enough.

It was Hangyul who pulled away; chest heaving in exertion from having come up for air just now. In amusement, he watched Seungyoun slowly regain his bearings after their first real kiss seemed to have all sense flying out the older’s proverbial window. Pride blossomed in the younger’s chest from the realization that he had quite literally kissed the older into oblivion so that now, Seungyoun was still panting; eyes unfocused & hooded, lips glistening.

“I love you, too, Seungyoun hyung,” Hangyul huffed once Seungyoun was looking up at him again, breath fanning over the older’s face. “Now, we sleep.”

And the older could only nod dazedly, blinking dumbly at the ceiling as Hangyul laid back down beside him and spooned him again; his back to Hangyul's chest, and the younger's face buried in his mop of hair.

In the dark, they both smiled. They just _knew_ this night was just the first among many more sweet, or otherwise many more intimate nights to come.

**Author's Note:**

> was the ending too abrupt? he he he ^.^v
> 
> where the hoes for dumb & jealous!seungyoun and babie!hangyul at?
> 
> N E WAAAY THANKS FOR STILL BEING HERE WITH SEUNGYUL IN 2020. 
> 
> hope this was worth all the teasing i did while writing it. leave me a comment juseyo or find me on stan twt he he he
> 
> FRIDAY THE 13TH OF 2020 AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON THIS SUPERIOR SHIP LOL


End file.
